A Hint of Romance with a Side of Motor Oil
by teslasward
Summary: While the gang is eating at Jacob's, Julie notices Mike sitting over in the distance on Mutt's hood. She decides to see just what's eating him up lately.
1. Greasing the Gears

The revving of Mutt's engine was always the sound that could get Mike out of a funk and whenever the engine seemed to roar a bit more frequently than usual, the Burners knew straight away that something was amiss with their leader.

Julie walked into Jacob's restaurant and noticed Mike sitting apart from the others. Realizing Dutch and Chuck were way too consumed in their techno-whatsits to be of any real help, she shrugged begrudgingly at the thought of having to rely on Texas for debriefing her on the current situation. The big oaf was sitting with his feet up on the table as he tried to stealthily clear his nostrils of boogers until he caught a glimpse of Julie out of the corner of his eye. In a vain attempt to uphold his failed "cool guy" charade, Texas quickly moved his feet to a more socially acceptable pose, sat up straight and brushed the dust off of his shirt before trying to lean back suavely. "Hello there Julie, what can Te-" Before he could finish his sentence, Texas fell out of the booth onto the ground. As she helped him up, she couldn't help but chuckle.

"You alright there cowboy?"

Discouraged that he'd been made to look like a fool, Texas responded curtly, "Yeah, I'm fine. Texas doesn't get hurt that easily." He flexed his biceps and neck muscles, prompting the usual eyeroll from Julie. "What's up Jules? Don't mind me, just flexing the boys."

'Verrry impressive Tex. You know what's up with Mike? He hasn't seemed himself these past few days and Mutt's been getting revved up like clockwork."

"Dunno. Probably just his usual 'Kane's been doing so much and I still haven't found a way to stop him' routine." Texas gave his best attempt at mimicking Mike's voice, which in all honesty sounded pretty much the same as every impression the big lummax did.

Julie stroked her chin thoughtfully and brushed her bangs out of her eyes. "See, that's what I thought too, but he just seems a bit more off than usual."

Texas put a hand on his hip and stroked his imaginary stubble, "Maybe it's just indigestion. Never know with the stuff Jacob has us eatin'."

The last comment prompted an audible, prolonged "Hey" from Jacob who'd just brought over his latest and greatest. Pulling a wooden spoon from his toolbelt he smacked Texas' hand. "I'll show ya indigestion. Don't like it? Don't eat." Julie and Jacob laughed while Texas nursed the smacked hand.

Texas responded with a disagreeable "Hmph." As Jacob walked back over to the kitchen, Texas seemed to regain his focus, but who knew how long that would last? Julie seized that opportunity to try and continue her questioning.

"Tex, so if it's not indigestion and the usual Kane hullaballoo, any ideas what could be getting Mike's goat so bad?" She sat down next to him in the booth. It was stil to this day shocking that when they were sitting, Texas wasn't very much taller than herself.

"Hmmm, well he's like lookin' off into the distance a lot lately. Only time I ever do that is when I'm thinking about y-," he caught himself and cleared his throat, "when Texas is thinking about a special lady."

"And when dare I ask has Texas ever thought about a special lady?" She smirked.

He blushed slightly before slamming his hands down embarrassedly, "S-Shut up! All I know is that I know that look." The oven timer dinged from across the room. "Look's like Texas's dinner is ready, I have to go get my spices so I can Texasify it. Hwah-cha." Texas did a karate chop mid-air before running off in the distance to get his "Texasification" supplies.

"Well that was helpful," Julie said sarcastically as she got up from the booth. Seeing Jacob walking over with the massive tray of meat she said before he could ask, "He's getting his supplies and will be back in a second."

_Like he's thinking about a special lady_, she thought, _definitely not me then. He's like my brother, that'd just be weird. Who then?_ She scanned the room back and forth looking for any signs of females other than herself, but there were only a pair of old ladies knitting and Claire, who'd just arrived and was sitting at the bar. _ I'm gonna make an assumption and say that grannies aren't Mike's type. _ Her face scrunched up. _At least I hope so. Claire's out too...Wait!_ She noticed Mike turn his head to look back into the restaurant for a second. He'd smiled and was twiddling his thumbs like a toddler with nothing to do. Following his line of sight, she noticed something a bit surprising. "Chuck?" she said audibly.

The blond looked up from his blueprints and responded nasally, "Yeah, Jules?"

She raised her hands nervously and shook her head, "O-oh, it's nothing. I thought I had a question to ask you, but I...I forgot!" She smiled fakely.

Chuck shrugged and said, "Mm, well alright. If you remember, Dutch and I'll be here for a while."

"Okay!" She waved and turned tail quickly. Once she was out of earshot of the others, she calmly walked over to Mutt outside the shop. Mike was sprawled out on the hood, looking up at the criss-crossing christmas lights that were draped over the patio. He was still smiling slightly, but seemed somewhat deep in thought. "...Mike?"

He was shocked to hear her voice breaking the silence of the night and jumped up on his haunches to look at her. "Hey Jules." The greeting wasn't followed by his usual smile though. Mike's face turned very neutral and became hard to read.

"Mind if I join you?"

He smirked slightly and moved to the side to make some room. _I wonder what made her come out here? Everyone else is still inside. _"Not at all. Come pop a squat on Mutt. There's plenty of room."

Julie walked over and slid up onto the hood of the car, taking care not to accidentally scratch the paintjob. "It's beautiful out tonight."

"Yeah, I like laying out here to think." He leaned back and rested his head on his hands. "What made you decide to come out here?" The question was followed with slight chuckle, a subconscious attempt to hide his nervousness.

She shrugged and mimicked his reclined position. "Don't know. You just seem to be in a funk today and I wanted to see what was up."

He turned onto his side and replied, "I'm good, Jules, really." _Such a lie. I'm pretty much the opposite of okay right now. _

"C'mon Mike, we both know that's a lie. You wouldn't have gone out alone in Mutt SIX times in one day if you were alright." She leaned over and patted him on the shoulder.

Mike remained silent. _Does she know? There's no way she knows. I haven't told anyone._

"You big wooby come here and talk to Auntie Jules." She pulled lightly on his shoulder and Mike sat up abruptly before leaning forward and hunching while seated.

_Relax. The key is to relax. Julie's a cool girl, even if I do tell her, I'm sure she won't be that weird. _

"I don't know, recently I've been feeling kind of confused. Not sure what it is, but it's driving me crazy."

She pulled him in closer and rubbed his back gently, "Mhmm, go on."

"I..I don't know, I … just like someone, but I don't think they like me back." He looked away and began to twiddle his thumbs like before.

"I asked Texas what he thought was going on and even though he first suggested that you ate some bad food, he also said that you looked like you were thinking about someone special."

_Crap. She probably thinks it's her. What do I do? What do I do?_ "Well yeah, all of you guys are special to me."

Julie shook her head dismissively. "I know THAT. I meant that you were looking at someone who's special because you...you know LIKE them."

_And there it is._ "Jules, you're a great girl and all, but you're like a sister to me and..."

She cut him off before he could finish, "Not me you jerk." She punched him playfully and chuckled.

"Oh phew." He exhaled heavily. "I was worried there for a second Jules." _Probably not the best choice of words._

"Hey, I wouldn't be that bad of a person to like! I AM pretty awesome." She smirked.

"That's true. You are pretty awesome."

"So now that we've crossed that bridge of awkward... who is it that you like?"

Mike looked down at his hands and his smile faded. "It's a bit...complicated." He caught himself looking at Chuck out of the corner of his eye, hoping that Julie hadn't noticed. As he looked up and saw her smile from beneath the bangs, he assumed that she HAD seen.

"I see." She put a reassuring hand on his knee. "I don't blame you, he is cute in his own little dorky way."

"Wha-...how did yo-...?" _Well it looks like the secret's out. Now to bear the brunt of the backlash._

"Mikey please, it's all over your face."

"Is it really that obvious?"

"About as subtle as one of the Duke's entrances."

Mike slapped himself on the forehead, "Well so much for keeping my feelings to myself." He laughed for the first time since they'd started talking.

The two of them leaned back in silence for a small while before either said anything else. It wasn't an awkward silence, more of a comfortable, friendly one. Mike finally broke the silence a few minutes later.

"So Jules, do you think he feels the same way?"

Jarred from a minute-long nap, Julie snapped back into consciousness, "Wha-, who?"

Mike leaned back on his hands, "Chuck. Do you think he likes me the way I like him?"

Julie thought for a few moments before responding. "Ya know, I'd say so considering he's the only one of us who'd consider riding shotgun with you, yet he's a scaredy cat. I think he feels really comfortable around you."

A smile crept across his face.

"Only surefire way to find out is to ask him, Mikey." She pushed him off of Mutt's hood into a standing position. Giving him a reassuring slap on the butt, Julie whispered, "Go get 'im tiger."


	2. Jumpstart

With the forceful encouragement of Julie's unwarranted butt slap, Mike didn't really have an option of going back now. _ Mikey, Jules is probably right. She has a good head on her shoulders. Chuckles will probably be really cool about it, even if he doesn't feel the same way. Just take a few therapeutic breaths and get a move on before even Mutt starts pushing ya! _

Mike took a few steps forward before pivoting on his heel to walk back over to Mutt. Shaking her head in admonishment, Julie jumped up and turned him right back around.

"You're not getting yourself out of this pickle that easily Mikey. Remember what I said." She smile warmly at him.

The reassuring smile certainly helped, but in the grand scheme of things, it didn't really change the fact that Mike was scared out of his leather loafers. He didn't scare easily. Driving at 200+ on a regular basis tends to take the regular spectrum of fear and throw it out the window, engulfed in flames. The only thing that ever really got Mike Chilton scared was when something or someone was threatening his friends or his relationship with them.

Reaching inside his jacket, Mike pulled his shirt taut to try and temporarily hide the wrinkles in the tattered T-shirt. Satisfied with the appearance, he fixed his jacket and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his jeans.

With each step he could make out more and more of Dutch and Chuck's conversation about the team's communication software, but the words seemed to blur together. The details weren't the important part, Mike just needed to get a general idea so he could walk over and "check" on things without it seeming weird.

As he reached the table, Mike smiled and slouched lazily against the column.

"Hey there Chuckles, Dutch, how's the comm system coming? Any major breakthroughs?"

Chuck and Dutch stopped talking and turned to greet Mike.

"Ah nothing really groundbreaking, Mikey, Dutch was just telling me about he thinks he can rewire a few of Kane's goonbots to eavesdrop on some Kane Co. convo." Chuck was clearly excited by the idea, though he realized that it probably went in one of Mike's ears and out the other.

"That is so cool guys." Mike walked over to Dutch, "Dutch, I believe this deserves a high-five."

The dark-skinned teen didn't even look up from his work, but landed the high-five perfectly, "You bet it does." He glanced over at his watch, "You guys mind if I take a few hours off? I wanna go finish that mural I started the other day. Finally know what I'm gonna do with."

Mike and Chuck looked at each other and shrugged. "Sure Dutch, no problem man! See you back tonight for dinner!"

As Dutch began to walk away with R.O.T.H. in tail, Chuck yelled, "I heard Jacob's making his Jumper Cable Gumbo tonight. Can't wait!"

Dutch held his stomach and gagged, "Yeah. Maybe I'll just camp out over at the station," prompting a few laughs from Mike and Chuck. Texas was dozed off in the next booth over, but was awoken by the commotion and started laughing loudly and obnoxiously.

"Hahahahahahahahahahahah" He continued well after Mike and Chuck had stopped, getting him looks from not only the guys, but pretty much everyone in the restaurant. Noticing that no one else was laughing, he quieted down, walked over and patted Chuck forcefully on the back, "Now THAT, was a good one, Chuckerina."

Chuck scratched his head and glanced over at Mike, "Yuppp."

"See you ladies later. Texas has to go work on his core. The arms are getting a bit too big for their own good." Texas kissed his flexed biceps as he walked away. "They've got a long way to go to catch up to my muscular throat though." Mike and Chuck looked away from the grotesque demonstration.

Chilton waved absent-mindedly after the muscular teen, "See ya Texas."

After Texas was well on his way out, Mike finally sat down in the booth, looking across the table at Chuck working intently on Mutt's soon-to-be new driveshaft. Chuck didn't really seem to notice that Mike was staring right at him until he had to sneeze. Wiping his nose, the blond caught Mike's gaze, reeling back in shock. "Ahh! Dude! I thought you left. It was quiet as anything, I didn't even know you were still there." Holding his chest, Chuck's breathing soon returned to normal.

Mike looked away, smirking slightly and rubbing the back of his head. "Oh, sorry Chuckles, didn't mean to startle you." He laughed for a moment. _Great job with the awkward mime silence there Chilton. _

Chuck took a quick look at the polished driveshaft before placing it in his bag and getting up from the booth. "See ya later Mikey!" As he walked past Mike's seat, Mike grabbed his wrist.

_Well here goes nothing._ "Wait Chuckles." Mike was looking to the side still, avoiding making direct eye contact, or as close to direct eye contact one could get with Chuck's bangs in the way.

Chuck looked down at his wrist and pulled away slightly, "Mikey, is it urgent? I kinda should get this part over to Mutt sometime soon." He noticed that Mike was avoiding eye contact, which was definitely weird considering how confident his friend was. "You alright, Mikey?"

Mike released his grip on Chuck's wrist, "I guess it's important. I just wanted to...talk...to you...," he hesitated and quickly tried to make something up on the spot, "about that thing, you know the one from yesterday with all the tubes."

Chuck raised an eyebrow skeptically, "The nitro system? Mikey, you know what that is and how it works, you're not some greenstick driver. What's really up with you? You seem off." He set the bag down onto the table and resumed his seat.

His hands were clammy and he could feel his pulse racing at a mile a minute. Closing his eyes for a second, Mike thought about what he was gonna say and just when with it. "I guess I am off Chuckles."

"And?" Chuck made a spinning motion with his hands.

Taking a deep breath, Mike finally looked up from his hands and made direct eye contact with Chuck. "There's something I need to get off my chest. It just feels a bit weird saying it."

Chuck laughed nervously, "C'mon Mikey, you've seen me pee my pants from your driving before. Can't get much closer than a friend who sees a friend wet himself."

Despite the seriousness of the moment, Mike couldn't help but chuckle at Chuck's words. "Heh, I guess you're right Chuckles." The smile faded back to the thoughtful expression from earlier. "Chuckles, there's something I need to tell you."

Chuck was silent.

"Chuck, this may seem kinda weird coming from me and all, but I don't know man, I like you."

Chuck laughed, "Mike, I already know you like me doofus, why else would I ride with you?"

Mike's expression was serious, but slightly reddened, "No, Chuck, I mean I think I like you ...as something more than a friend."

Silence. _Well there it is. I've royally screwed up everything._ "S-sorry, I'm just gonna head back over to Mutt. Forget I said anything." He put his hands back into his pants' pockets and balled up the link between his fingers.

As Mike stood up to turn and walk over to Mutt he heard Chuck's voice say firmly, "Hold on a sec, Mikey." Chuck paused and Mike stopped dead in his tracks. "I didn't say that I didn't like you. I-I just had no idea you felt this way." Mike started walking away with his head sunken slightly. Chuck tried to say something, but the words just wouldn't come out.

Once Mike got back to Mutt, Julie was reclining on the car's hood. She leaned up at the sounds of his soles against the cement pavement. "Sooo? How did it-," she started to say suggestively before sitting up and seeing her crestfallen friend. "Oh man. Mikey." He sat on the hood next to her silently as she leaned over and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm sorry." She looked up to try and see his eyes, but they were obscured by this bangs. A tear started to roll down his cheek slightly before he caught himself and sat up abruptly, feigning a smile.

"What Jules? I'm fine. I'm fine." His bloodshot eyes gave away the ruse almost instantly. Before she could say anything, Julie notice Chuck walking over.

_Uh oh. This could send Mikey off the edge._ "Chuck, what are you up to-"

"Not now Jules. Can I get a minute alone with Mike?" Julie was skeptical, but she knew Chuck was a decent guy and would never intentionally hurt Mike. Keyword "intentionally."

She looked at him intently and pointed with an 'I'm watching you' gesture saying, "5 minutes. After that I'm coming back over here."

Chuck took her place next to Mike on Mutt. Mike hadn't said anything since he'd arrived and Chuck didn't expect him to. Reaching out a hand, he placed his on the one resting on Mike's leg, lacing his fingers between Mike's. Mike tried to pull away, but Chuck gripped a bit more tightly. "You didn't let me finish back there...I-I've always liked you like that, but I never thought you were...ya know."

Mike perked up immediately and wrapped his arms around Chuck.

Gasping for air, Chuck squeezed out, "Okay Mikey, I know you're happy, but I need my lungs", prompting his immediate release. Taking a few deep breaths to reexpand his lungs, Chuck smirked and said, "So...does...this...mean...we're...going...out?" Breathing heavily between words.

"Don't get ahead of yourself Chuckles. Who said we're going out?

Chuck's jaw dropped, "But..you..just...I...what-" Before he could finish, Mike pecked him lightly on the lips.

"There's your answer." He smirked as he stood up, "Big May's Flapjacks tonight at 6. Gotta take a ride in Mutt first to burn off some energy."

Chuck hopped off of the hood still in shock as to what had just happened. Realizing his five minutes were up, Julie appeared next to him with her hands on her hips. "Who would have pegged you as the hot commodity? Good job Chuckles." She patted him lightly on the behind, prompting a shocked yell from him. "Now there's the Chuck I'm more used to." They both laughed while Mike rode off into the distance.


End file.
